Zatch Bell! Mamodo Battles Adds Zest to the Fighting Game Genre

by Louis Bedigian

Tired of sequels to yesterday’s hits? Tired of the same old jump-kick-combo fighting games? Maybe you’re just sick of seeing letters and numbers in the name, and subtitles that are supposed to make us forget that it’s the sixth game in the series.

Zatch Bell! Mamodo Battles looks the competition in the eye and says, “I don’t need to be just like you.” And it isn’t. No matter how you feel about the series, your first impression of the game will undoubtedly be a surprised one.

Now that’s a lot of electricity.

Knowing that not everyone is informed of the series’ history and its evolution to a video game, Bandai recently held a conference call to provide new details and discuss where Zatch Bell is headed.

They started by explaining the story, which revolves around little creatures called Mamodo. Every 1,000 years one hundred of these Mamodo come down to conduct the ultimate battle. Why are they fighting? Why do they battle every century? They’re fighting to become the Mighty King of the Mamodo world, and that’s something you can’t do every single day. Hence the gathering every ten decades.

The way that they fight, Bandai told us, is via spell books. In order to be able to decipher these spells and use them they (the Mamodo) have to find their perfect human partner. The story of Zatch Bell is that the Mamodo find their partners and then unleash these spells from the spell books in the ultimate battle.

During the call we found out that the show is doing extremely well, receiving nearly half a million viewers age 6 to 11, and around 400,000 viewers age 9 to 14.

Given Zatch Bell’s vast popularity, Bandai extended the enjoyment to the fans with a collectible card game. It’s based on the spell book. You get a spell book, collect the cards, and then keep them in the spell book. I haven’t personally experienced it, but we were informed that it’s very much a role-playing game where you have to unleash the spells to win. Thus far it’s been a huge hit with the fans and is currently outselling one of the most popular card games in America, Yu-Gi-Oh! 

Trick or treat!

“Uhh…sorry, but I ate the last Snickers bar.”

Insolent fool! Why would you do that, you know it’s my favorite candy bar!

Zatch Facts:

• Card game integrated into Zatch Bell! Mamodo Battles

• Unique card included in the box – use the listed code to unlock a secret character!

• Three-dimensional movement for projectile evasions

• Strong partnership between human and Mamodo creatures

• Enhance Mamodo creatures by applying points earned in battle

• Unlock new versions of existing characters for a new take on your favorite Mamodo

I’ll get you, Duck Boy! If it’s the last thing I do! 

Zatch Bell! Mamodo Battles is an easy pick-up-and-play kind of game. There are a few strategy elements involved in deciding when to use projectiles and whatnot. At times it can become a game of who can shoot projectiles the fastest. Then it’s up to fast reflexes and good dodging skills. Those who don’t have either will be out of luck.

Mamodo creatures and human partners are used together for double attacks. In the PS2 version, press up and X simultaneously and your human partner will toss his or her Mamodo friend into the air. As the player you are in complete control of the Mamodo creature and may send a projectile attack from above. Hard to dodge, this aerial attack may be blocked if you’re fast enough.

Each character has a super attack that, once the appropriate meter has been charged, may be unleashed for an attack that nearly kills in one hit. To raise the meter all you have to do is attack. However, your power is drained each time you perform magic (projectile attacks). Since projectiles are so common it is not always possible to raise the meter before the match is over.

Should you and your opponent unleash their super attacks at the same time, a versus screen will appear that tells you to tap the X button repeatedly. Don’t ignore this message! The loser of this tapping match will lose their super attack and receive a ton of damage. 

Gotta love the projectiles. 

Three Qs With Bandai

I’d like to know more about the story mode. The preview that I played seemed to be considerably longer than the single-player mode of other fighting games.

Bandai: When you play the story mode you go through different characters’ stories. It’s set up to look like a book and you choose which location you’re going to go to. [A battle follows] that fits into the story. So it is quite lengthy as far as the story mode goes because there’s a lot of exclusive content. You’re going to meet a lot of different characters, and in fact you can unlock some characters as you go through the story mode.

I noticed that in some of the locations there would be a note saying that no one was there right now. It seemed like I’d be able to come back at a later time to battle. Is that the case?

Bandai: Yes. As you progress through the story you may come to an area where no one is fighting. You may be in one area and you may go to the London stage and no one will be there. When you do go to different locations you also have the potential to unlock additional points, or you may find a secret character while you’re bouncing between locations. So there is a story progression, but you may run into areas where there’s no one there at that time but you can use that time to gather points for your character.

Are there strong rivals between the characters?

Bandai: Some of the characters fight more often than others. Some of them, like Zatch and Tia, have a rivalry so you fight her quite often. There’s the archenemy that you fight, he has a secret mission, and once you unlock him you can unlock his story and you can go back and forth between him and Zatch.

Thanks to everyone at Bandai and Kohnke Communications for having a wonderful conference call.